25 YEARS of SERVICE

Alfred Grixti CEO FSWS

The Foundation for Social Welfare Services (FSWS) this year celebrates its 25th anniversary.

The decision to establish the FSWS was taken by Prime Minister Dr Alfred Sant and communicated to the Board of the then Foundation for Medical Sciences and Services (FMSS) on 27th February, 1998. The FMSS Board then passed a resolution on March 3, 1998 which formally established the FSWS. The end result was that the FMS would concentrate on medical services while the FSWS took over Sedqa and the Social Welfare Development Programme (SWDP).

Growth

During these 25 years, the social services under the FSWS umbrella have flourished. I have never had difficulty in recognising that setting up Sedqa and the SWDP by means of a Cabinet decision in 1994 were vital steps in the right direction. The welfare state model as it was then, basically a cash benefits system which helped people by giving them money, had served well. However, we needed, as a country, to start providing psycho-social services for vulnerable people by trained professionals. Sedqa and SWDP (which eventually became Aġenzija Appoġġ), were the strong foundations on which the FSWS was built. Until then substance misuse was still treated as a criminal problem rather than a psycho-social one. Child Protection and Domestic Violence, till then considered private family matters, were the first two issues addressed by the SWDP as it was recognsied that they were society’s concern as a whole.

New services

Today the FSWS has a budget of € 30 million and employs 948 people. 80% are professionals from various psycho-social disciplines who carry out direct work with the 22,125 persons who sought our help in 2022. Following the enactment of the Minors Protection (Alternative Care) Act two new Directorates were created within FSWS namely, the Directorate for the Protection of Minors and the Directorate for Alternative Care. Thus, today Appoġġ excels in the provision of Domestic Violence Services, social work services in the health sector and for other government agencies along with homelessness and human trafficking. Appoġġ runs the highly successful 179 national support line and is the leader in internet safety by means of the Be Smart Online and Child Web Alert projects. Sedqa is now the leader in substance misuse services, addictions in general and is moving into the field of behavioural addictions. Sedqa is also the leader in prevention, not only in schools but also at the workplace. Our community services are now also responsible for all therapeutic services, particularly at community level. Currently, there are nine community service centres and eight outpost services in Malta. Crucially, all the services offered in Malta are now also offered in Gozo from one community service and one outpost plus an administrative office in Xewkija. Following the trends identified by the 2021 census, in 2022 14% of our service users are non-Maltese. We are adapting the way we work to be able to serve these people better.

That said, there is still a lot of more work to be done. It is the bane of affluent societies that social problems and challenges increase not decrease. We are not perfect and recognise that there is always room for improvement. Therefore, we are committed to the continuous training of our employees. Likewise, we will continue to improve our services to reach more people across our country. FSWS looks forward to the next 25 years of service and is committed to being here for the people most in need.